Marathon Running Tips

Tag Archives: Pace

During the week I ran a total of 43Kms. 7kms on Wednesday, 10 kms on Friday and a 26 kms long run on Sunday. I missed running on Thursday because it was raining and I wasn’t in a mood to go out running in the rain.

I did the weekday runs around a track. I wasn’t trying something fancy like basso 800s, my goal was to maintain a high pace for the duration of the distance.

I am getting better at focusing on my feet movement. I have learnt when I keep focus on my feet movement and prevent my mind wandering am able to maintain my pace.

The Sunday long run was the best so far, I felt my body was getting stronger. I started with a goal of running 24 Kms but I extended it to 26 kms because I was feeling strong. The good weather helped, it was a Sunny morning with cool temperatures. I ran the whole route without taking water and I never felt seriously thirsty at any time. My long run consists of running a very hilly route. It is a route where you are either going up or down. I try my best to step up my pace when climbing up those hills: it is the only way to get better and stronger.

Cross Training.

After missing training on Thursday, I made sure I did indoor work outs. I did press ups and squats. I have also been doing stretching exercises to make sure my leg muscles are nibble and flexible.

So far I haven’t been timing my runs but I plan to start timing myself.

Running faster is not about increasing your stride rate but increasing the force in your take off. That is according to research done as to why Jamaican runner, Usain Bolt is the fastest runner in the world.

When Bolt established the current 100-meter world record in the 2009 world championships, running it in 9.58 seconds, he did so by moving his legs at virtually the same pace as his competitors. In fact, if you or I were to compete against Bolt, our legs would turn over at essentially the same rate as his.

This is a theory put forth by academics and track coaches alike who contend that running fast has more to do with the force one applies to the ground than how quickly one can move one’s legs.

There are many half marathon training books, to save you time, we have done a review of three best selling books for half marathon training at Amazon.

Best selling Amazon books for half marathon training

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Half Marathon Training

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Half-Marathon Training: Get Ready to Run or Walk a 5K, 8K, 10K or Half-Marathon Race is an easy-to-understand introduction to the world of running half-marathon, or shorter, race. Endorsed by the National Institute for Fitness and Sport, this book is packed with illustrations, notes on how to stay motivated and tips on how to train without pain. It will guide you through your marathon-training program and show you how to find the appropriate clothing and shoes, prevent and treat injuries and warm-up before running.

This book for half marathon training shows you how to run your best time without injury or time-intensive training. It teaches you how to: Mentally prepare, Train smarter, Improve speed and endurance, Properly nourish your body, Pace your self.

At a certain point many runners notice a decline in their running performance. They notice their speed or pace has gotten and no matter how hard they run they can’t run faster.

A sudden decline in running pace may be a sign you are doing something the wrong way.

Some causes of decline in running pace are ;-

1. Overtraining

2. Change of training methods

3. Under eating.

Over training.

If you train too much -back to back days without taking a rest your muscles will get exhausted and sooner or later you will experience a decline in performance. One way you can avoid exhaustion is to space your runs. Run today and rest the next day. If you already feel exhausted take a complete rest for a week.

Change of Running Method.

If you were used to running on flat roads and you have just shifted to hill running this might also affect you running speed. Immediately after shifting to hill running you may experience decline in pace because your body is not used to extra demand. It takes time for our bodies to adjust to the extra demands of hill running. With time the body adjusts and hill running feels normal.

Under eating

Food is the fuel that drives our run. If you are not eating enough you denying your body the fuel it needs. You can make a rough estimate of how many calories you need based on your weight, the kind of job you have, and your training program. People who exercise regularly should eat about 60 percent of those calories from carbohydrates, 25 percent from fat and 15 percent from protein.

According to running times, No non African-born runner has ever run as fast.

No one in the world—not Bekele, Tadese, Kogo or anybody else—has run that fast this year.

The big one: His weight, Chris Solinsky weighs 73Kgs, compare that to the top guns at this level, Bekele at 54 kg (119 lbs), Gebrselassie (56 kg/123 lbs), Tergat (63kg/132 lbs) and Sammy Wanjiru (52kg/115 lbs). The sports scientist has a fantastic graph on these, see graph

So How Did Solinsky Train to be this fast? : Training Regimen & Work Out

The answer is inside a running times interview. The guy disclosed he has focused on aerobic running. By aerobic running he means he does his training by running at a pace he is able to breath comfortably.We can all do this but the special thing about Chris is the distance he covers in a week, he runs 100 – 120 miles a week. He has been doing this over the years and it seems he is now reaping the fruits.

My favorite image from 2010 New York Half Marathon has to be seeing Deena Kastor storm ahead. I thought she was on course to tear down the course record only to fall apart on the dying stages.

Kastor charged into the lead from the beginning and established the pace for a women’s course record. But the veteran Mara Yamauchi of Britain broke it. She passed a fading Kastor at the 11 ½-mile mark on the West Side Highway, storming to first place in 1:09:25, 18 seconds faster than the 2006 record set by Catherine Ndereba. Kastor was second, in 1:09:43.

See More Photos of New York Half Marathon at Athlete Director Flickr Photostream

Apple Iphone has 140,000 applications, and still counting. Wading for your perfect application can be a headache if you don’t know what you are looking for, this list makes it easier to find applications dedicated for runners. Just type the name of the application on apple search box and you shall find it.

Trailguru Application for runners

Trailguru, this Iphone application records your distance, speed, and time as well as details such as how many stops you made, how long they were, your elevation, and statistics on your runs.

RunCalc Iphone Application for runners

RunCalc. Novices as well as experienced runners will enjoy using this app that calculates the pace and speed of your runs when you enter the time and distance.

Can Do 26.2 Iphone Application for runners

Can Do 26.2.will help you find any marathon in the US, can register you for the race, provides links to the races’ websites, and can tell you if the race is a Boston Qualifier.

Fitnio Iphone Applicationfor runners

Fitnio Application tracks your runs, it calculates and stores time, distance, and calories burned for each run and even keeps an emergency button with a friend’s number programmed in case you need help during a run.

Distance Meter Pro Application for Runners

Distance Meter Pro. Get distance, speed, a route map, and more with this GPS distance tracker that can be used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks.com.

Learning how to breathe (inhale and exhale) properly has benefits such as improving a runners performance.

A good description of a breathing technique on how to breathe and boost performance is from Military.com

Many experts will say that to fully oxygenate the muscles and clear the body of carbon dioxide you should breathe a 3:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio; full inhales and full exhales. This means you INHALE on the LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes and EXHALE fully on the RIGHT, LEFT foot strikes. This pattern is not that hard to turn into a habit, but it may require you to slow your pace down for a few runs to master the technique. You will notice a lower heart rate as you are able to get more oxygen in and more importantly push all the carbon dioxide out of your body. You may notice that you naturally drop to a 2:1 ratio when you are really pushing it to the finish. That is OK. But realize it is difficult to maintain a pace that requires you to breathe at a 2:1 ratio.

There are many techniques on how to breathe, the best way to find a method that works for you is to try them all. If a method you tried does not work, try another method, when you find a method that works stick to it.

The following breathing tips have worked for me.

Breath more from your diaphragm (belly) than your chest (chest breathing is more shallow).

Focus on exhaling more fully. This will remove more CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and allow for deeper inhalations of O2 (Oxygen), I do this when I reach a hill and slow my pace.